


Happy Worst Day Of The Year

by hoodienanami



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Cake, Birthday Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Selina is a good friend, this is riddlecat if you want it to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 16:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15223454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoodienanami/pseuds/hoodienanami
Summary: Today was, by far, one of the worst days of the entire year for Edward. Or at least it would have been if he had remembered that the day had any significance.





	Happy Worst Day Of The Year

**Author's Note:**

> This is all purely self indulgent and based on headcanons but I wanted to write and share it anyway. 
> 
> I really think that Eddie would forget his birthday because he's never celebrated it before and if someone gave him a gift or wanted to celebrate it with him he'd cry because no one's ever remembered his birthday before.

Today was, by far, one of the worst days of the entire year for Edward. Or at least it would have been if he had remembered that the day had any significance.

It was his birthday. A day, that many people would assume, he would love to an obnoxious degree. After all, when it was someone’s birthday everyone was required by social rules to give them gifts and attention and those were two of Edward’s favorite things.

But in reality, he really hated his birthday. It was another painful reminder of his childhood and just how much his parents hated him. He could still vividly remember his eighth birthday when they had spent all day fighting over who’s fault his existence was and how badly they both wished he had never been born. It was still as painful now as it had been back then.

He had never gotten any gifts, much less a party, and had to figure out from other kids at school that it was really weird for no one to celebrate your birthday and that it was even weirder for your parents to just pretend you didn’t have one in the first place.

It wasn’t a big surprise that he had forgotten his birthday by the time he was living on his own. It had faded into the background as just another day. That didn’t mean he didn’t find himself wanting a birthday celebration though. Or just for someone to acknowledge his birthday existed in a positive way. But he pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind every time they came up, as they brought back painful memories as well.  

Despite wanting a birthday celebration, he never made any effort to remember what date he was born so he could tell people and then expect them to give him gifts. He did have friends but he doubted any of them cared enough to give him gifts or cake or even a happy birthday.

So, to this day Edward had never celebrated his birthday, not even on his own because he knew doing that would just make him feel so much worse. He assured himself he would not sink the levels of loneliness and misery required to buy himself his own birthday cake.  

So yes, Edward had forgotten that today was his birthday.  

He made his way around his apartment doing his typical routine, content that it was just another day to work on plans or just relax. But just as he was about to settle on the couch and play one of his many video games, he heard a knock on the door.

Edward grumbled indigently and got up to answer the door. He wasn’t expecting visitors so he quickly peered through the peephole to check who was out there. He didn’t want to be attacked after all.

Standing outside and holding a brown box under one arm was Selina. She raised her fist to knock again but Edward opened the door before she could. He was happy to see her, though surprised she had come over.

“What brings you to my abode, Selina?” He asked, shutting the door behind her as she strolled into his apartment without being welcomed in.

“I wanted to bring you this.” Selina set the box down on the nearest table. “I know you like your mysteries and riddles but I honestly can’t believe you made me figure this out without any clues.”

“Figure what out?” He knew he hadn’t sent her any riddles or mysteries to figure out as of late. Selina had made it very clear that she didn’t want those in her mailbox or taped to her door.

Selina cut the tape off the box with her sharp nails. “When your birthday is. You kept it a secret so we’d all have to figure it out right?”

Wait, birthday? His birthday was today? Selina had gone out of her way to learn when his birthday was? What was happening?

He was about to respond to her when she flipped open the lid of the box and reveled what was inside. He had absolutely no idea how to respond to that.  

“I can’t bake so I hope you don’t whine about it being store bought. But I did do the writing myself.” Selina pulled the small green and purple birthday cake out of its box and Edward could feel the beginning of tears welling up in his eyes.

“Happy birthday Eddie, you better enjoy this cake.”

No one had ever gotten him a cake before. No one had ever cared enough to even wish him a happy birthday.

Oh great, he was crying now. He reached up and tried to wipe away the tears before more of them could fall. But even though he was crying he had a fully sincere smile on his face and he felt happier then he had ever felt that year.

“Jeez, are you really crying about this? You’re dramatic and all but this is kinda pathetic.” Selina put the cake down and pat him on the arm.  

He pulled his hands away from his face so he could look at her, his smile still on his face and his eyes still wet with tears. “No one has ever celebrated my birthday before.”

Selina’s playful smile faded and was replaced by a look of concern and pity. Though that look was also quickly replaced by a genuine smile and she pulled her friend into a hug.

“Earlier I was going to make a joke about me only doing this because you got me a gift for my birthday. But I won’t, because it’s not true. I wanted to do this because I like you. Even though you can be a really annoying asshole.”

“Selina...thank you.” That was all he could say in the moment. He didn’t know how to tell her how much this meant to him. There really weren’t words to describe the levels of happiness he was feeling.

The hug separated and Selina pulled a chair away from the table for her to sit. “Me and Harley are going out later if you want to come. I’m sure she’d be happy to celebrate your birthday too.” She was already pulling paper plates and a knife to cut the cake with out of the box.  

Edward sat down in the chair next to hers. He had never, until this moment, realized how much Selina cared. Or how much he had wanted something like this to happen. Or just how happy he was to have Selina as a friend.

He wished he could tell her how she had just made up for years and years of his birthday being non-existent to everyone with just one day that hadn’t even ended yet. But he couldn’t find a way to put it into words that would matter as much as his feelings, so he just ate the cake in front of him, smile still on his face like it would be for the rest of the day.

Maybe his birthday wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe instead of remembering his past when he thought about this date, he would remember today and how perfect it was.


End file.
